[1] – In 1994, a players' strike wiped out the last eight weeks of the season and all post-season. Oakland was one game out of first place in the West Division (despite being 12 games under .500) behind Texas when play was stopped. No official titles were awarded in 1994.

The "Athletics" name originates from the late 19th century "athletic clubs", specifically the Athletic of Philadelphia. They are most prominently nicknamed "the A's", in reference to the blackletter "A", a trademark of the team and the old Athletic of Philadelphia. This has gained very prominent use, and in some circles is used more frequently than the full "Athletics" name. They are also known as "the White Elephants" or simply "the Elephants", in reference to then New York Giants' manager John McGraw's calling the team a "white elephant". This was embraced by the team, who then made a white elephant the team's mascot, and often incorporated it into the logo or sleeve patches.

One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1901. Then the Philadelphia Athletics, the team moved to Kansas City in 1955 and became the Kansas City Athletics. In 1968 the team moved to Oakland.

Origins

Origin of the team name

The Athletics' name originated in the term "Athletic Club" for local gentlemen's clubs—dates to 1860 when an amateur team, the Athletic (Club) of Philadelphia, was formed. (A famous image from that era, published in Harper's Weekly in 1866, shows the Athletic players dressed in uniforms displaying the familiar blackletter "A" on the front). The team later turned professional through 1875, becoming a charter member of the National League in 1876, but were expelled from the N.L. after one season. A later version of the Athletics played in the American Association from 1882–1891.

The team name is typically pronounced "Ath-LET-ics", but their longtime team owner/manager Connie Mack called them by the old-fashioned colloquial Irish pronunciation "Ath-uh-LET-ics". Newspaper writers also often referred to the team as the Mackmen during their Philadelphia days, in honor of their patriarch.

Uniform Emblem

Through the seasons, the Athletics' uniforms have usually paid homage to their amateur forebears to some extent. Until 1954, when the uniforms had "Athletics" spelled out in script across the front, the team's name never appeared on either home or road uniforms. Furthermore, not once did "Philadelphia" appear on the uniform, nor did the letter "P" appear on the cap or the uniform. The typical Philadelphia uniform had only an "A" on the left front, and likewise the cap usually had the same "A" on it. In the early days of the American League, the standings listed the club as "Athletic" rather than "Philadelphia", in keeping with the old tradition. Eventually, the city name came to be used for the team, as with the other major league clubs.

Though for a time as a Kansas City team, the "A"s wore "Kansas City" on their road jerseys and an interlocking "KC" on the cap, upon moving to Oakland the "A" cap emblem was restored, although in 1970 an "apostrophe-s" was added to the cap and uniform emblem to reflect the fact that then-team owner Charles O. Finley was in the process of officially changing the team's name to the "A's".

Currently, the team wears home uniforms with "Athletics" spelled out in script writing and road uniforms with "Oakland" spelled out in script writing, with the cap logo consisting of the traditional "A" with "apostrophe-s". The home cap is green with a gold bill and white lettering, while the road cap is all green with gold lettering.

The nickname "A's" has long been used interchangeably with "Athletics", dating to the team's early days when headline writers wanted a way to shorten the name. From 1972 through 1980, the team nickname was officially "Oakland A's," although, during that time, the Commissioner's Trophy, given out annually to the winner of baseball's world series, still listed the team's name as the "Oakland Athletics" on the gold-plated pennant representing the Oakland franchise. According to Bill Libby's Book, Charlie O and the Angry A's, owner Charlie O. Finley banned the word "Athletics" from the club's name because he felt that name was too closely associated with former Philadelphia Athletics owner Connie Mack, and he wanted the name "Oakland A's" to become just as closely associated with himself. The name also vaguely suggested the name of the old minor league Oakland Oaks, which were alternatively called the "Acorns". New owner Walter Haas restored the official name to "Athletics" in 1981, but retained the nickname "A's" for marketing purposes. At first, the word "Athletics" was restored only to the club's logo, underneath the much larger stylized-"A" that had come to represent the team since the early days. By 1987, however, the word returned, in script lettering, to the front of the team's jerseys.

The A's are the only MLB team to wear white cleats, both at home and on the road, another tradition dating back to the Finley ownership.

Elephant Mascot

After New York Giants' manager John McGraw told reporters that Philadelphia manufacturer Benjamin Shibe, who owned the controlling interest in the new team, had a "white elephant on his hands," Mack defiantly adopted the white elephant as the team mascot, and presented McGraw with a stuffed toy elephant at the start of the 1905 World Series. McGraw and Mack had known each other for years, and McGraw accepted it graciously. By 1909, the A's were wearing an elephant logo on their sweaters, and in 1918 it turned up on the regular uniform jersey for the first time. Over the years the elephant has appeared in several different colors. It is currently forest green. The A’s are still sometimes, though infrequently, referred to as the "Elephants" or "White Elephants".

The elephant was retired as team mascot in 1963 by then-owner Charles O. Finley in favor of a Missouri mule. In 1988, the elephant was restored as the symbol of the Athletics and currently adorns the left sleeve of home and road uniforms. The Elephant Mascot returned briefly in the mid eighties, under the name Harry Elephante. In 1997, the elephant returned, taking its current form: Stomper.

Franchise history

Stadium Issue

Issues with current stadium

The Oakland Coliseum was originally built as a multi-purpose facility and team owners have been faced for several years with problems at the venue.[citation needed]Louisiana Superdome officials pursued negotiations with Athletics officials during the 1978–1979 baseball off-season about moving the Athletics to the Superdome in New Orleans. The Athletics were unable to break their lease at the Coliseum, and remained in Oakland.[1]

The Athletics also sought relocation to Denver, Colorado to play in Mile High Stadium before the 1980 season, but they agreed again to remain in Oakland. They had an interest to relocate in Phoenix, Arizona in the mid 1980s as well.[citation needed]

After the Oakland Raiders football team moved to Los Angeles in 1982, many improvements were made to what was suddenly a baseball-only facility. The 1994 movie Angels in the Outfield was filmed in part at the Coliseum.

Then, in 1995, a deal was struck whereby the Raiders would move back to Oakland for the 1995 season. The agreement called for the expansion of the Coliseum to 63,026 seats. The bucolic view of the Oakland foothills that baseball spectators enjoyed was replaced with a jarring view of an outfield grandstand contemptuously referred to as "Mount Davis" after Raiders' owner Al Davis. Because construction was not finished by the start of the 1996 season, the Athletics were forced to play their first six-game homestand at 9,300-seat Cashman Field in Las Vegas.

Although "official" capacity was stated to be 43,662 for baseball, seats were sometimes sold in Mount Davis as well, pushing "real" capacity to the area of 60,000. The ready availability of tickets on game day made season tickets a tough sell, while crowds as high as 30,000 often seemed sparse in such a venue. On December 21, 2005, the Athletics announced that seats in the Coliseum's third deck would not be sold for the 2006 season, but would instead be covered with a tarp, and that tickets would no longer be sold in Mount Davis under any circumstances. That effectively reduced capacity to 34,077, making the Coliseum the smallest stadium in Major League Baseball.

Before the 2008 season began, the organization announced the reopening of the section of upper deck behind home plate in an "All You Can Eat" offer. Tickets are sold at $35 each, in which fans can enjoy as much as food as they like.

Oakland stadium proposal

Since the expansion of Coliseum seating, ownership has stated that a new and smaller baseball-only facility is necessary to ensure the economic viability of the Athletics. In 2005, owner Lewis Wolff made public his plans to build a 35,000-seat baseball-only stadium not far from the present facility, as part of a larger commercial and residential development. However, those plans never moved past the nascent stage, in part because the cost of the football-related renovations to the Coliseum made public funding for a new baseball-only stadium too politically risky.[citation needed]

Following the termination of the A's efforts to move to Fremont in 2009, the City of Oakland renewed their efforts to keep the team in Oakland. On December 9, Oakland mayor Ron Dellums announced that the city would offer three sites for the construction of a new stadium. Two of the sites are located in Jack London Square, immediately west of the downtown core. Another is located near the Lake Merritt channel. With new housing in downtown Oakland and the planned expansion of Jack London Square as a major retail destination, building a ballpark at the site of the Howard Terminal at the Port of Oakland could be a boon to the city's retail redevelopment efforts. Jack London Square also features nearby BART rail lines, easy freeway access and transbay ferry service. Under the deal offered by Oakland, the city would be responsible for acquiring the 50-acre site and prepping it for construction. The team would be responsible for providing the funds to build the stadium. No money would come out of the city's general fund and development costs incurred by Oakland would be allocated from funds awarded by Federal Stimulus funding earmarked specifically for urban redevelopment.

Cisco Field

After the city of Oakland failed to make any progress toward a stadium, the A's began contemplating a move to the Warm Springs district of suburban Fremont. Fremont is about 25 miles south of Oakland; many nearby residents are already a part of the current Athletics fanbase.

On November 7, 2006, many media sources announced the Athletics would be leaving Oakland as early as 2010 for a new stadium in Fremont, confirmed the next day by the Fremont City Council. The team would have played in what was planned to be called Cisco Field, a 32,000 seat, baseball-only facility.[2] The proposed ballpark would have been part of a larger "ballpark village" which would have included retail and residential development. On February 24, 2009, however, Lew Wolff released an open letter regarding the end of his efforts to relocate the A's to Fremont.[3]

Possible San Jose stadium

As of February 26, 2009 the city of San Jose is expected to open negotiations with the team. Although parcels of land south of Diridon Station are being acquired by the city as a stadium site, the San Francisco Giants' claim on Santa Clara County as part of their home territory would have to be dealt with before any agreement could be made. Since any movement into the Giants territory would require the consent of three quarters of all 30 Major League Baseball owners, moving the A's to San Jose is considered a long shot. The Owners are historically very reluctant to allow teams to move into another owner's claimed territory in fear that they would be setting a precedent to have their own territorial rights terminated in the future.

However, this recently occurred when the Washington Nationals were granted the right to play in the Baltimore Orioles territory starting in 2005. Under that agreement the Nationals were forced to cede ownership of their radio and television broadcasts to the Orioles, making them the only team in the league that does not own their broadcast rights. It is unclear whether the A's or the Giants ownership groups would be willing to enter into a similar agreement.

In December 2009, the city attorney for the City of San Francisco announced that they would sue if the A's were moved to San Jose citing that they would lose revenue if the Giants territorial rights on San Jose were terminated.

Las Vegas

Las Vegas, Nevada was mentioned by the Athletics organization, with a history of A's baseball from spring training to exhibition games, as a probable new city. Las Vegas has grown into a large metropolitan area, with the Arizona Diamondbacks being the regional major league baseball franchise.

Rivals

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

The Angels have emerged as the principal rival of the A's due to the traditional animosity between Northern and Southern California and the great talent and farm systems of both clubs which have led to countless one-run contests. While the A's have been a member of the American League since 1901, the Angels, as well as their other divisional rivals, are of a more recent vintage. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim date from 1961, as do the Texas Rangers (but only since 1972 as a Dallas-Fort Worth team; the Rangers were the second incarnation of the Washington Senators, who played in the nation's capital from 1961–71). The Seattle Mariners were organized in 1977.

San Francisco Giants

The A's have also established a strong geographic rivalry with the San Francisco Giants. It is generally acceptable in Northern California (unlike in other two-franchise baseball markets like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago) to identify oneself as a fan of both baseball teams. The teams faced each other in the 1989 World Series, which the A's won in a four-game sweep, interrupted by the Loma Prieta earthquake. During that series, caps were sold with both team's insignias on the front, and the respective colors making up half the hat.

The Giants and A's also enjoyed a limited rivalry at the start of the 20th century prior to the emergence of the Yankees when the Giants were in New York and the A's were in Philadelphia. The teams were managed by managing legends John McGraw and Connie Mack, who were friendly rivals and considered to be the premier managers during that era. Each team played in 5 of the first 15 World Series (tying them with the Red Sox and Cubs for most World Series appearances during that time period). The Giants and A's met in 3 World Series, with the Giants winning in 1905, and the A's emerging victorious in 1911 and 1913.

After a decade-plus of interleague play, the A's hold a 38–30 edge against the Giants head-to-head through June 29, 2008[4] – including a 16–8 record against the Giants during the 2005–08 seasons[5]. In addition, the A's have played in six World Series (winning four of them) since moving to Oakland in 1968, while the Giants have only been to three World Series (losing all three) since moving to San Francisco in 1958. When factoring in the World Series matchups between the two franchises (dating back to 1905), the A's hold the all-time edge over the Giants in head-to-head play, winning 51 games and losing 37 times—the Giants won the 1905 World Series four games to one, while the A's won the 1911 World Series (4–2), the 1913 World Series (4–1) and the 1989 World Series (4–0).

Minnesota Twins

The A's have a history with the Minnesota Twins as well. Between 1987–92, the A's and Twins combined to win six consecutive American League West titles and reach the World Series five times. Oakland finished second to Minnesota in 1987, while the Twins placed second to the Division champion A's the following year. Recent events that have taken place between the A's and the Minnesota Twins suggest a renewing of an old rivalry. In 2002 the Twins snapped the A's 20-game win streak. The Twins also beat the heavily favored A's that year in the ALDS. The A's got revenge in 2006 when they swept the favored Twins out of the post season, defeating their two-time Cy Young ace Johan Santana in Game One.

Philadelphia Phillies

City Series Renewed: The Athletics played their former co-occupants of Shibe Park, the Philadelphia Phillies, for the first time in a regular season game in June 2003. Previously they had only played each other in exhibition games, dubbed "The City Series", which was played annually from 1903–1954, with the A's winning 123 games to the Phils' 115, with two ties. Ceremonies were held for the first game of the 3 game series at Veterans Stadium, as former Philadelphia A's players were honored on the field. The Phillies took the series against the A's, 2–1. They played each other again in June 2005 in Oakland, this time the White Elephants defeating their former rivals two games to one. The Phillies returned to Oakland in 2008, losing 2 out of 3 to the home town team.

Other AL Rivals

During the 1970s, the A's established a strong rivalry with the Kansas City Royals (then an A.L. West team), fueled by the Kansas City fans' resentment of the A's move to Oakland in 1968, and by the rivalry of the Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs football teams. Arguably, the Athletics' biggest American League rivals in recent years have been the teams that were their old traditional rivals from decades ago in Philadelphia—the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox—if only because of the hard-fought playoff games between the teams.

Season records

This table is a partial list of the seasons completed by the Athletics. For full season records see Oakland Athletics seasons.

The Spring Training Facility in Phoenix AZ has been the home of the Oakland A's since 1982. Previous Spring training sites since they moved to Oakland in 1968 was Yuma, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada both in the 1970s.[citation needed]

No A's player from the Philadelphia era has his number retired by the organization. Though Jackson and Hunter played small portions of their careers in Kansas City, no player that played the majority of his years in the Kansas City era has his number retired either. As of 2009, the A's have retired only the numbers of members of the Hall of Fame that played large portions of their careers in Oakland.

Radio and television

Television coverage is exclusively on Comcast SportsNet California. Some A's games air on an alternate feed of CSN, called CSN Plus, if the main channel shows a Sacramento Kings game at the same time. On TV, Glen Kuiper covers play-by-play, and Ray Fosse provides color commentary. Fosse also does color commentary on the radio when the A's are not on TV, or the game is on Fox or ESPN. Fosse also does play by play on the radio during Spring training games.